HappiJac #5

[Glacier_D]

Well, HappiJac strikes again! Raised the camper today so I could put it on the truck, the left front jack made a loud squelching sound and took off some big chunks of the powder coat on the inner tube. Bought this jack new 3 years ago, in fact all jacks were replaced 3 years ago and maintenance has been maintained on these jacks.

Pure garbage in my opinion! Guess I'll replace with their supposedly improved version. This will be my 5th HappiJac on a 6 & 1/2 year old camper.







All of that missing powder coating came off all at the same time.

[Bedlam]

My Rieco Titans are now going into their fourth year. They are used about dozen times a year with no problems yet to report on my 4000 lb Arctic Fox. They do not have a manual jack mode for backup which is about the the negative I have about them so far.

The deicer that is now being applied to the passes in the winter has rusted my camper tie down loops but the jacks are holding up well. I'm reluctant to expose my new truck to this junk being but down and it's putting a damper on my future skiing.

[3_tons]

HJ's are no more 'prone to failure' than any other brand (recall other brands sudden jack failures) but since there are more HJ's out there they get far more press (typically unobjective).I use Leggos under mine to gain additional height ( truck bed is raised) and the jacks DO occasionally slip on the leggos. Call Gary at HJ and he'll probably fix it for free...

[Glacier_D]

I realize that my Happijacs see more arduous use than most of you here on this forum. I use my camper in the Winter at a ski area in Washington State and they do salt the roads here unfortunately.
Many people come up here with their truck campers throughout the season, many different brands of campers and different brands of jacks.
I can say from everything I have seen up here is that the Happijacs will fail in this environment. My friends with their Bigfoot replaced all their HJs prior to this last season due to jack failure, cost them $1300.00 for new jacks. We had to saw off the lower jack leg on another friends Nothern Lite this last winter since the jack seized up and couldn't be retracted even with a hand crank.
Another friend of mine who often full-times here has Atwoods on his Lance and outside of some rust on the outer tubes he hasn't had any jack problems at all.

So from what I have seen and experienced the HJs are prone to failure while the Atwoods and Rieco Titan are not. Just sayin!

[Glacier_D]

bigfootford wrote:


When you say you did maintenance... did you fully disassemble them and lube the worm shaft and Nut/ball?

Jim

No I did not disassemble the jacks, did the maintenance stated in the manual. That is wax the jacks, put a few drops of oil in the capped hole near the top of the jack and fully extend the jacks once a year.

[Glacier_D]

wnjj wrote:

What is the yellow pad under the foot? If it allows the foot to slide that also may be contributing to your issue. The jack foot may have slid out so it's no longer in line with the upper tube.

I put those yellow pads under the jacks after this damage happened. Moved the camper to power wash the driveway and noticed that the camper jacks put some indentations in the blacktop so I put those pads down when I put the camper back in its spot. Most people use pads under their jacks.
Nice thought, but that didn't cause this problem, poor jack design did.

[bcbouy]

mine don't rub,but my camper is only 2500 lbs.

[iwon415]

I miss my Atwoods...

[bigfootford]

wnjj wrote:

bigfootford wrote:
Don't see how that can happen. There are 4 nylon pads that keep that from happening.
Are they missing? If so you should contact HJ and tell them about it.

My HJ's are 15 years old now. some rust here and there. Have sanded and painted the outer tube in some spots. Inners show wear where the nylon pads are but... NOTHING like what your picture shows...

When you say you did maintenance... did you fully disassemble them and lube the worm shaft and Nut/ball?

Jim

When I saw black curls rolling off the leg I thought it was the nylon but turned out to be the powdercoat. Maybe when there's too much pressure the nylon will still act like a paint scraper?

Good thought but I do not see that... Where is the normal scrape marks of the nylon pads?

Every Hj I have see, not just mine, has the rub/wear marks of the nylon pads... Just weird..

Jim

[wnjj]

bigfootford wrote:
Don't see how that can happen. There are 4 nylon pads that keep that from happening.
Are they missing? If so you should contact HJ and tell them about it.

My HJ's are 15 years old now. some rust here and there. Have sanded and painted the outer tube in some spots. Inners show wear where the nylon pads are but... NOTHING like what your picture shows...

When you say you did maintenance... did you fully disassemble them and lube the worm shaft and Nut/ball?

Jim

When I saw black curls rolling off the leg I thought it was the nylon but turned out to be the powdercoat. Maybe when there's too much pressure the nylon will still act like a paint scraper?

[bigfootford]

Don't see how that can happen. There are 4 nylon pads that keep that from happening.
Are they missing? If so you should contact HJ and tell them about it.

My HJ's are 15 years old now. some rust here and there. Have sanded and painted the outer tube in some spots. Inners show wear where the nylon pads are but... NOTHING like what your picture shows...

When you say you did maintenance... did you fully disassemble them and lube the worm shaft and Nut/ball?

Jim

[Seon]

wnjj wrote:
...What is the yellow pad under the foot? If it allows the foot to slide that also may be contributing to your issue. The jack foot may have slid out so it's no longer in line with the upper tube.

That's a good possibility and I was going to do the same with my "new to me" camper. You may have saved my day! Thanks

[wnjj]

Rubbing that hard means your camper is trying to walk. You should have lowered back down onto a support and then lifted that leg. The foot would have probably sprung forward as the weight came off. I had one of mine do that to the powder coat but a whole lot less and down low when I was lowering it to the ground. Changing the fore-aft angle by raising the back to much or to little can make it even worse. Sometimes when loading up the jacks will snap sideways as they first leave the ground. Other times they don't. It depends upon how it all set down onto the truck.

What is the yellow pad under the foot? If it allows the foot to slide that also may be contributing to your issue. The jack foot may have slid out so it's no longer in line with the upper tube.

[ejfranz]

Mine are just fine,10 years and still working.
I installed electric motors ~ 5-6 years ago.
I have had to pull them apart and clean up the worm gear and re-lube as one was starting to screech.

[Glacier_D]

poriggity wrote:
If you're not happy with your current happijacs, why would you buy another set from that brand? There has to be other brands out there.

Scott

Guess it comes down to money. I would have to buy new wiring, motherboard, remote, jack motors, jacks and mounting brackets. Probably around $2000.00 or more if I do the work myself, who knows what an RV shop would charge.
I would also have to put a wall mounted switch in for my slide since that is operated by the HJ remote.
Lots of money that could be spent on other things. Do you get the idea?

[poriggity]

If you're not happy with your current happijacs, why would you buy another set from that brand? There has to be other brands out there.

Scott